Left for Dead
by drunkenshowers
Summary: The story of Toniana, a woman left by her mother at a young age to take over a Tortuga pub. An ungainly pirate by the name of Jack Sparrow from her childhood returns, requesting her help. It's her choice of whether to help the pirate she loathes, or to let him die... T for language and sexual situations, possible strong violence. There may be an eventual OCxJS but no promises!
1. Chapter 1

**I've fallen in love with Pirates of the Caribbean all over again, and so a new story was formed! **  
**Unfortunately, I don't own Jack Sparrow, Tortuga, or anything from Pirates of the Caribbean, *sob*  
**

_Prologue_

A four year old girl sat on the counter top, gazing around the busy pub. Tortuga's pub wasn't a good place for a young child to stay in, but the barmaid had little choice for where she could keep her daughter. The woman served another drunken, leering man and kissed her daughter on the top of the head. "Okay, Toniana?" The toddler turned round and beamed at her mother. "Yup."  
"Another pint, darlin'!" The mother turned round, and began filling up a cup. Two men came in with a boy at their heels, and sat down at the only empty table at the busy tavern. One of the men, a rough looking, weather beaten lad, said something to the boy and gave him a push in the bars' direction.

The young boy swaggered over to the bar, heaved himself onto the barstool and looked around, an air of arrogance about him. After realising no one was paying attention to him, he turned to the girl. "Three rums, ta."  
"You're no' old enough to drink sure?" He looked disgruntled, and sneered.  
"I wasn't speaking to you, ghostie."  
Toniana frowned, and asked "Ghostie?"  
"What happened to your hair?"  
"Nuthin'."  
"Why's it all white then?"  
"Dunno." The little girls hair curled in all directions, a bright, shining platinum blonde  
"Well, hurry with those rums."  
"What's your name?" The boy thought for a second.  
"I'm called Jack." He thought for another second. "Jack Sparrow."  
"That's boring."  
"Is not!"  
"My name is Toniana Flint, but most people call me Toni."  
"Haha, you're a boy!"  
"Am not!" Toni made to shove Jack of the barstool, but he was too quick to dodge. "I'm older so I'm faster," he boasted. "How old are you?" He added anxiously.  
"Four," she answered.  
"I'm seven." Jack laughed, and put his feet on the table. "I'm going to  
be a pirate."  
"Nah, you're too little!"  
"I'll grow," he said, sitting up straighter. "What are you gonna be?"  
"I'm gonna run mum's pub." Jack grinned evily.  
"I reckon you'll be a pros-da-tude," he muttered, trying out the word.  
"Wassat?"  
"You're too little to know," he said airily, enjoying irritating the younger girl.  
"I'm not!"  
"You are. I'm not telling."  
"What's a postatude?"  
"You're saying it wrong."  
"Your face is wrong!"

Jack leapt of the barstool and ran to the corner of the room, chanting "Toni's a prostitute, Toni's a prostitute!"  
She chased after him, grabbing onto his shirt and ripping his sleeve. "Tell me!"  
"Nah." Toni brought her arm back and delivered a heavy punch to his face. Jack reeled backwards, holding his cheek. "Uh, ow!"  
"I'm gonna kill you!" He ran to the door, Toni chasing after him fast. Jack threw open the door, and let it swing into her face, laughing. He put his hands on his hips and yelled "You will always remember this as the day that you almost caught Jack Sparrow!" He scratched his head, and smiled, showing a silver tooth. "That's not bad, I should use it again sometime."  
"I hope you drown, Jack Sparrow!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Thankyou for just opening this. All reviewers are better than nutella.**

_16 years later..._

The young woman cleaned a mug, looking at her almost empty pub. A drunk belched loudly, and passed out onto the worn table in front of him. She sighed, and let the mug fall onto the bar top with a crash, startling him and making him curse quietly to himself. Another man, a pirate, walked in through The Broken Shell's doors, sitting down heavily at one of the many free tables. His dark eyes were glazed, and he looked like he had been drinking heavily.

Toni sighed again, and walked slowly to the tanned pirate's table. She pushed her hair to one side of her shoulders, and asked "What you wantin'?" The man looked up blearily, and grinned. "Rum, love."  
"Two pieces, then." He pulled out two gold coins, and threw them onto the table. "Cheers," Toni muttered, and scooped them up with one hand and turned to walk away. "No problem, ghostie." Toni's head snapped round, glaring at the leering pirate. "Sorry?"  
"Your hair."  
"Unless you want trouble with my brother, keep your trap shut and your eyes up," she spat at him, aggravated by this new-comer.  
"I wouldn't mess with Alfie Flint, don't worry yoursel'," said the pirate, still smiling.

Toni stormed back to the bar, pulling a bottle of rum out from the shelves. "Irritating git."  
"Alright, Toni?" A heavily built, scruffy eighteen year old came out of a room behind the bar, yawning. "Bit late to be working?"  
"It's only after midnight, Alfie." He yawned again, scraping a hand through his sandy hair.  
"Needin' a hand?"  
"Nah, I'm alright. That twat in the back needs a rum if you wanna give it to him."  
"What's wrong with him? He looks a bit past it, but nothing bad," said the young man, taking the bottle from her hand.  
"Meh, taking the piss out of my hair, eyes falling out of his head." Alfie grinned, and pulled his elder sister into a bear hug.  
"Not my fault my big sis is gorgeous!"  
"Hardly," she said, laughing into his front. He span round and picked up the bottle, strolling over to the pirate.

Toni watched Alfie put down the rum in front of the pirate, and then began cleaning the tops. Barely keeping her eyes open, she put the rag down on the top and rubbed her eyes, feeling more exhausted than usual. Ever since her mother disappeared when she was 15, she had to run the pub and look after her little brother. Toni paused, thinking about her mother. She knew very little about her personality, and only knew that she had brown eyes, and was very thin, always tired looking. Toni wondered if she was like that now. She certainly always felt tired. She had argued with her mother before she left, something about life choices. Not long after, someone rushed into the pub, telling Toni about a message from Jan Flint, who told them to tell her daughter she was in charge now. Toni rolled up the sleeves of her shirt, feeling her forearm, where countless thin, white scars from her teen years still shone brightly from her skin. As Alfie sat down and began picking at the bar stool, Toni brushed the tear threatening to fall from her eye away and headed back to the aggravating pirate who had his hand in the air, waving her over.

"Righ', well." The intoxicated pirate attempted to stand up, and fell back into his chair, grinning manically. "Ano'er rum!" Toni rolled her eyes, and smiled falsely.  
"Of course," she muttered.  
"Look."

Toni arched an eyebrow, facing the pirate.

"I'm feeling a bit offended."  
"Why?"  
"You don' remember me." She looked him up and down, and asked politely "Did my brother beat you up?" The pirate scratched his chin, and straightened his bandanna. "Quite possibly. But!" He pulled her down by the arm into the chair next to himself, and took her by the arm, placing his lips to her ear. "Captain... Jack... Sparrow." He shot back, smiling and showing several silver teeth, waiting for her response.  
"Er, okay?" His face fell.  
"That's me!" He said enthusiastically, pointing to himself.  
"Great." Toni stood up, but his hand stopped her from leaving.  
"Do you want to chat to my brother?"  
"Look, calm down. I'm just... You punched me in the face when I was younger. That was harder to admit than I thought..." he muttered to himself. Toni looked back, surveying Jack. Suddenly, memories rushed back.

"I told you to drown! I remember!" He grinned, and drained his rum.  
"Guess this makes us acquaintances."  
"Guess it does."  
"Now, are you still setting your brother on me?" Jack smirked, and gestured towards the bar. Alfie was asleep, snoring softly on a bar stool. Toni sighed, and shook her head. "Not at the minute." The clock struck, marking one in the morning. Toni jumped, and pulled a threaded bracelet of her wrist, using it to tie her hair up. She lifted the rum bottle, and stood up to leave the table, but Jack grabbed her wrist. Toni gave him a look that burned, and he immediately lifted his hand. "Sorry, but..." His eyes drifted to the scars.  
"But what?"  
"Mind showing me that.. Thing you tied your hair up with?" he asked, tearing his eyes away from her wrist.  
"Um, sure." Toni untied her hair, and the white curls fell down her back. She passed the old, threads with some simple charms around them. "Ah... Ooh... Now, how to ask..."  
"What is it?"  
"Well." He looked awkwardly at her, smiling uneasily. "Would it be a possibility..."  
"Spit it out, Sparrow."  
"Okay, I will." He looked her in the eyes. "Fancy coming on a little voyage with myself, and my crew?"  
All her drowsiness disappeared.

"What?"

The corner of his mouth lifted and he raised the empty bottle of rum to his lips.

"I'm lookin' for a certain something, and I'd be very glad to have you on board, ghostie."

"What are you looking for?" The boozy pirate scratched his head, and said "Can't say. You'd be a bit of a help though." Toni said nothing.

"Go on, love."

"What's in it for me?" she asked, suspicious.

"Sail the seas with Captain Jack Sparrow! See the world, darling, get away from all this!" He flailed his arms wildly, and stood up. "What d'ya say?"

Toni looked at him for about three seconds, and said simply "Nah, thanks."

Jack's mouth dropped.

"Listen, kid." He received more daggers from Toni and stopped abruptly. "Listen. You've got something I need, but I can't take it, otherwise I would have nicked it from you about ten minutes ago."

Again, Toni asked "What?"

The pirate grabbed her arms and stared at her. "I _need _you on board. If not, I'm pretty certain I will die."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for such a late update! I usually update weekly and this overran terribly due to me having to go to the doctor's :( wah.  
**

**In response to reviewwwwws: ** **Whovian10: thanks for telling me, I love to know where I'm going wrong! I'm trying not to be boring and use "he said, she said" all the time, I'm sorry if it doesn't make sense :( glad I've got Jack's character right, he's very hard to write!**

**Dame-of-the-Living-Dead: awesome name! Thankyou, glad you like it!**

**Disclaimer: Jack, most unfortunately doesn't belong to me. Otherwise I'd be a happy girl... ;)**

Toni stared. Jack bit his lip and reached into his pocket. When he didn't take his hand out, Toni stiffened. "If you're planning on knifing me, I'm afraid I might have to cut you first." From inside her long apron pocket she brought out a small dagger and held it by her side. "I'm not stupid, Sparrow. I've been running a pub for a good many years and I know the signs. Believe you me, you're not the first to decide to take your chances." Jack feigned offence.

"I would never dream of it."

"Of course." Toni didn't put away the knife. "Come on, love. Trust me."

"I'd rather trust a murderer."

"I'm a pirate, does that not imply it?"

"Hence why I wouldn't trust you." His twisting smile lifted once again and he peered into the rum bottle in front of him, irritated by it's lack of alcohol. "If I tell you why I need you on board, then will you trust me?"

"No."

"Good lass." He grinned as her face became confused. "Why would I want someone who trusts instantly? I'd rather have a kid who wanted mutiny than one who wanted to lick my boots. Not that I'm implying I wouldn't like that," he added, watching her face screw up in distaste.

"You're disgusting." He stood up, and bowed low.

"Why thank you." He looked around at the near empty pub. "Is there somewhere we could speak privately?" Toni raised her eyebrows.

"I'm goin' nowhere with you."

"Alrighty then." He dropped back into the chair and held out another for her. She slowly sat down, not releasing her grip on the knife.

"I don't know how you got a hold of that bracelet, but many people would kill thousands for it." Toni's eyes widened.

"This?" She fiddled with the three charms that looped simple brown threads with one hand.

"Ghostie, you've got a hold of one of the most sought after charms in the world..." He took his hand out of his pocket to bring out a grubby looking chain with a similar charm. "This being the other one."

"But what do they do?" Jack smiled.

"Well, they say that whoever has a hold of one of these charms either has fantastic luck, or rather terrible."

"So I've got the terrible?" she asked, peering at the three charms.

"No, I do." Her eyes snapped up.

"Are you telling me I have_ good_ luck?" she said acidly.

"I am, actually," he replied coolly. "I don't know if you've noticed, but the amount of times you could have been beat up, robbed or..." He squirmed in his seat. "Er... Taken advantage of, is rather high. Because you've been wearing that charm, every time a thief has tried to pick pocket you, or every time you thought you would starve, you've been saved somehow. I however..." He curled his lip. "As I acquired this rather recently, I've been having the worst luck I think is possible. Sails tearing, boats being lost, crews leaving..." He sighed.

"And how did you acquire this?" The pirate looked up with deadly serious eyes.

"There are two ways to take a charm from someone. Giving it to a blood relative of the same gender, or kill them."

"I'm taking that to mean you didn't just get that from an Uncle then."

"No."

"I got mine from my mother." Interested, Jack tilted his head.

"When did she give it to you?"

"Around a week before she vanished." His eyebrows rose into his hairline and he scratched his head.

"What was your mother's name again?" he asked slowly.

"Jan. Jan Flint." Jack stood up abruptly and turned to walk away. "Wait!" Toni called after him. Jack turned around and for the first time, Toni saw anger in his eyes. "Jack?"

"Sorry," he said sharply. Toni was bewildered, and tired. She didn't want to deal with this pirate.

"Look, Captain. I really need to close up and-"

"Will you come with me?" Toni shut her mouth.

"I don't..." The young woman felt pressured, unsure of what the right decision was.

"Come with me, and if it doesn't work out, I'll let you off the boat, you can come back here to your brother and your pub. I won't try to make you stay." Toni avoided looking at his searching eyes, and stood up herself. She returned the knife to her apron. "How long do I have to tell you if I can come or not?"

"Tomorrow, noon." She let out a small gasp. It was so near... "Love, I'll be back tomorrow. Tell me then." With that, Jack strolled out and into the dark, dangerous streets of Tortuga.

Toni picked up the empty rum bottle and for the second time that night, felt tears threatening to fall, pricking her eyes. "Pull yourself together, Flint," she spoke quietly. Suddenly, anger flared up inside her. Why did that damned pirate have to show up now? Her rage building, she approached the only customer left in the pub who was passed out, asleep. She smashed the bottle next to his head, and he woke, swearing and shouting. "Bloody hell, what the fu-"

"Get out. We've closed." The man fell out of his seat and staggered out of the door, cursing as he went. Her brother had jumped awake, and was now pretending he had been the entire time. "Must have dozed off for a moment, sorry about that. Now, is there anything-"

"I'm tired Alfie, can you just go to bed?" she snapped. Her younger brothers' eyes widened in shock and upset, but followed orders.

As he returned to his room, Toni walked up the stairs, her feet falling heavily as she went. In one practised move, she opened her door and kicked her worn boots off, just barely managing to pull of the apron and let it fall to the ground before collapsing onto her bed. Exhaustion was overtaking her fast, and she only had enough time for around four hours sleep before-

A faint noise came from downstairs. Toni froze, and she strained to hear. There were murmured voices, she was certain of it. She couldn't hear the words, and slowly she got out of bed, and started to creep along the landing, crouching and peering down between the bannisters to the bar. Five, shadowy figures stood in the middle of the room, deep in conversation. Toni cursed quietly, in her rush to get to bed, she had forgotten to lock the door. Barely daring to breathe, she looked closely to see if she could see their faces. She only recognised one, the drunk who she had thrown out just fifteen minutes before. As she listened closely, she could just work out their mutterings.

"I swear, she has it!"

"Bullshit, that is. You bring us here and there's not even a bloody person in the place."

"She was right here, swear down-"

"Cut the crap you two. We search the place, get what the boss wants and we're out of here. If we run into that girl and her brother, then there's a gift for us, and a corpse. Not hard." The other voices let out low laughs and started to look around the bar. Toni hadn't realised how hard her heart was beating, and her eyes fell on her brother's room. If she could get to his room, they might have a chance at escaping this murderous lot. Trying to keep her breathing under control, she inched along the landing towards the staircase, a spiral that would hide her as long as she stayed still. Instinctively, she reached for her dagger, but she remembered too late it was in her room. Anytime they came near her, she froze and held her breath, half certain they could hear her heart drumming against her rib cage.

On the last step, she fell to her hands and knees and started to crawl oh-so-slowly towards Alfie's room. It was barely 10 feet away, she could make it. Just as she reached the door, a hand jammed down on her shoulder and another one grabbed her mouth. Toni was wrenched up and a voice hissed in her ear "Thought I didn't see you, sweetheart?" She tried to bite his hand, but the man had her mouth jammed shut and she couldn't make a sound. In a last attempt to warn her brother, she kicked out at the door and her captor swore. The man dragged her away and pulled a gun from his belt. The door swung open, and her brother's face froze in surprise. The other men were already leaving, and as Alfie was about to move, the man shot the gun straight at him. Toni tried to scream but no sound came out, and her brother dropped to his knees, yelling out in pain.

The man pulled her out the door and Toni could only concentrate on freeing herself, her brain not yet comprehending what had happened to her brother. Tears running from her eyes, the young woman hit out valiantly against the kidnapper and thought of nothing but freeing herself. Just as the man pulled back the trigger on his gun yet again, she felt him flying off her and another hand grabbing her arm, a familiar voice shouting out. "I don't think you quite understand how to treat a lady." "Jack?" Toni screamed, and the figure holding her arm laughed.

"Glad you got that one, ghostie, now. Time to run!"

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